Second Thoughts on Six Days: Reflections on Genesis 1

"In Wisdom You Have Made Them All"

This assertion from Psalm 104:24 captures the critical essence of where I believe we as followers of Christ must take our stand on the doctrine of creation. Consistent with the rest of scripture, this statement attributes the existence of all life to the wisdom of God. Similarly consistent with the rest of scripture, it does not go out of its way to explain to us exactly when or how or by what mechanism God created all things.

For more than 40 years I held firmly to a literal interpretation of Genesis 1: all things created in six 24-hour days. My view allowed for change over time following those who say that the "kinds" of Genesis 1 (as in "let all things reproduce after their kinds") is a broader concept than "species," so there is room for new developments to a limited degree. My movement away from this fairly strict literal interpretation, however, was not the result of attempting to accommodate popular scientific theory but rather the result of being challenged to consider more carefully the sound interpretation of the text: in particular the original audience and purpose of the passage.

Like every other passage of scripture, Genesis was revealed by God not in a vacuum but at a specific time to specific people for specific purposes, and correct understanding of any passage demands consideration of its meaning, its message to the original audience and then its message to us today (commonly summarized as "What does it say? What does it mean? What does it mean to me?").

So what about Genesis 1? Who was the original audience? The descendents of Israel, newly delivered from bondage in Egypt. What is the purpose of this passage? To help them begin to comprehend the power and authority of the God who had delivered them from Egypt and called them to be His people, to help them understand that their God, Jehovah, the God they are called to worship and serve, is the maker of the heavens and the earth and everything in them. The purpose of Genesis 1, then, is not to answer the question "How?" but the question "Who?"

Throughout scripture God is worshipped as Creator and Redeemer (see Revelation 4:11 and 5:9-10 for example). These people had witnessed first-hand God as redeemer as He brought them out of Egypt with miraculous power. In Genesis 1 He is revealed to them as Creator.

Am I suggesting that the creation account in Genesis 1 is not true or accurate? No, I'm suggesting, or actually agreeing with others who see it as a literary passage written in an attempt to convey God's awesome power in creation. As for truth and accuracy, it accurately conveys the central truth that God is responsible for the creation; that He is all-powerful. I believe that it is not the purpose of Genesis 1, nor the author's intent, to give us the actual play by play description of how God created all things.

Perhaps it seems irreverent to suggest such a thing? There are many examples in scripture, however, where such literary techniques are used. For example, in Psalm 18 David describes a time of desperate need and how he cried out to God. He then tells us that

"Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind."

Are we to understand from this that fire literally came out of God's mouth, etc. or is the point merely to emphasize to us that God responded powerfully and decisively to David's cry for help?

Perhaps a more relevant example is the geneology of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1. After giving us the geneology of Jesus from Abraham on in the first part of the chapter, in verse 17 Matthew makes a point that there are fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile and fourteen from the exile to Jesus. Bible scholars generally agree that in fact these three periods of Jesus' ancestry were not necessarily fourteen generations each, that this pattern represents some artful arrangement on the part of Matthew as a mnemonic aid, to play off the "perfect number" seven and perhaps for other purposes. While such an approach would be totally unacceptable in a paper written today in a North American academic setting, for example, that was not the setting or audience of Matthew 1 and the selective editing of geneologies for specific purposes was completely acceptable and normal in Jewish culture. The question Matthew wanted to answer up front for his Jewish readers was "Who is Jesus?" The question Moses addresses up front for his Jewish audience is "Who is God?"

Striking as this parallel may be (and it was a powerful and influential connection for me in my thinking), for an even more pertinent example, one need look no further than Genesis 2. Genesis 2 is a second account of creation which, if taken as a literal narrative, is quite at odds with the account in Genesis 1 (in particular it appears in the Genesis 2 account that the creation of Adam preceded the creation of plant life and that the creation of Eve was a subsequent event as opposed to apparently simultaneous in Genesis 1; and of course there is no mention of any of the days of creation in chapter two). The explanation I was given for these differences was that chapter two was a thematic accounting of the events whereas chapter one was chronological in nature. What I have come to believe is that both narratives are thematic accounts written to communicate clearly God-revealed truth to the audience of that day and to all who would follow: in chapter one that God is the powerful creator of all things including us, and in chapter two that God is the abundant provider of all good things, including meaningful labor and intimate companionship.

Where would such an understanding of Genesis 1 leave us? With the unyielding  conviction, consistent with the rest of scripture, that God is the creator of all things. And also with the humble admission that we do not know the details, mechanisms or timeframe by which God created all things-- He has not chosen to reveal that information in scripture. However, in the orderliness of the world He designed and created, it would be strange if there were no clues, if scientific study could unearth nothing indicative of His methods in creation.

Do I suggest that God relied on random chance as the means of creation? Absolutely not! "In wisdom you have made them all!" But could it be that the wisdom of God's design is not just revealed in the specific organs, structures or organisms we may chance to study, but beyond these particular manifestations in an underlying scheme of creation that allows for adjustments and adaptations in response to the specific needs and pressures at hand? What if change, far from being a haphazard random chaotic process is itself a manifestation of the wisdom of God? If the adaptability and change scientists describe is part of the brilliance of God's creative work, many of us as people of faith have had our eyes shut tight against this possibility due to our rigid understanding of Genesis 1. What needless polarization this has created between interpretations of God's written word and God's created world!

Yes, of course, there are those in the scientific community and elsewhere  who reject the existence of God out of hand. For these it matters not how we understand Genesis1-- they reject the whole concept of creation regardless of the timeframe or mechanisms because they have already decided that there is no God, calling to mind Psalm 14:1. However, there are also those, I believe in large numbers, who have been needlessly forced to choose between faith and science, caught in an artificial chasm aggravated by strict literal interpretations of Genesis 1, which I believe were not intended by God or the human author and which were foreign to the original recepients of the revelation. It is my hope and prayer that a clearer understanding of Genesis 1 and interpretation of it more in keeping with standard hermeneutical principles used throughout scripture will  reduce or remove many of the artificial man-made barriers between the understanding of God's revaled Word and God's created world and ultimately lead many to the knowledge of the Revealer and Creator.

Please let me know your thoughts.